OpenAI's Sam Altman worked so hard on his startup with ex-boyfriend that he got scurvy

After developing scurvy, Sam Altman ended up selling the company and taking a year off to look after his health.

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has recently revealed in an interview that while working hard on his first startup with then-boyfriend Nick Sivo, he neglected his health so much that he developed scurvy -- a disease that occurs when one has a severe lack of vitamin C in the diet. It causes general weakness, anemia, gum disease, and skin hemorrhages.

Speaking to New York Magazine, Altman said that at the time, he and Sivo were working on developing Loopt -- a software that aimed to geo-locate your friends -- after the OpenAI CEO won a $6,000 investment from a founders programme. That grant gave him the chance to live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for a few months to work among like-minded techies.

But an ambitious Altman focused all his energies on building Loopt and ignoring his diet to the point that he got scurvy from not eating enough fruits and vegetables. And yet, Loopt didn't become as popular as he had hoped, Sam Altman told New York Magazine. But it might have been the wake-up call he needed to manage his work-life balance.

So, he sold Loopt, took a year off, and spent his free time reading books, traveling, and playing video games, the publication reported. He even decided to go to an ashram which he said did wonders for his mental health.

"It changed my life," the ChatGPT maker told New York Magazine. "I'm sure I'm still anxious and stressed in a lot of ways, but my perception of it is that I feel very relaxed and happy and calm."

Now, however, Altman appears to be taking better care of his health. In a 2018 blog post, he wrote that he avoids eating extra-spicy and sweet food items, works out, and lifts heavy weights thrice a week.